Attorney Guide to Hyperlinking in the Federal Courts (for ... · Attorney Guide to Hyperlinking in the Federal Courts Revised on June 6, 2014 Page 4 of 30 Creating a Hyperlinked Table

Attorney Guide to Hyperlinking in the Federal Courts

Revised on June 6, 2014 Page 1 of 30


(for Corel WordPerfect users)

Contents Overview of Hyperlinking in Federal Court ......................................................................................................... 2

Types of Permissible Hyperlinks .......................................................................................................................... 3

Creating a Hyperlinked Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 4

Marking Table of Contents Entries ................................................................................................................................... 4

Defining a Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Generating Lists ............................................................................................................................................................... 5

Editing Lists ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Drafting Documents to Include Links to CM/ECF ................................................................................................ 7

Gathering Links for Citations to the Record ..................................................................................................................... 7

Formatting the appearance of the links inserted ............................................................................................................. 9

Linking to CM/ECF Documents .......................................................................................................................... 11

Inserting Links to Documents Previously Filed on CM/ECF ............................................................................................ 11

Adding Links to Attachments to the Document Being Filed ........................................................................................... 12

Automated Links to Legal Citations ................................................................................................................... 16

Access to Linking Software ............................................................................................................................................ 16

Linking Software—Compatibility Information ............................................................................................................... 17

Westlaw InsertLinks ....................................................................................................................................................... 18

Installing West InsertLinks ............................................................................................................................................. 18

Using West InsertLinks ................................................................................................................................................... 18

Shepard’s Links 2008 ...................................................................................................................................................... 19

Installing Shepard’s Links ............................................................................................................................................... 19

Using Shepard’s Links ..................................................................................................................................................... 20

Manually Inserting Hyperlinks ........................................................................................................................... 21

Manually Creating Links to Online Research Resources................................................................................................. 21

Manual Links to Court Websites .................................................................................................................................... 23

Final Editing ....................................................................................................................................................... 26

Removing Links .............................................................................................................................................................. 26

Editing Linked Text ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

Publish to PDF—Retaining the Hyperlinks ......................................................................................................... 28

Conversion to PDF .......................................................................................................................................................... 28

Additional Tips ................................................................................................................................................... 29

Viewing a website location opened from a link in a CM/ECF filing ............................................................................... 29



Overview of Hyperlinking in Federal Court

In the internet research world, hyperlinks are a standard way of “drilling down” for

more detail or specific information. Just as all web pages contain links to other pages,

cases downloaded from legal research services such as W estlaw or Lexis contain links

to the cases, statutes, articles, or other sources cited within the opinion. The links allow

immediate access by the reader to these referenced materials.

Attorneys can include links to cited law and CM/ECF filings in their briefs filed in

CM/ECF, adding another level of persuasion to their writing. Hyperlinks in briefs and

other court filings provide quick, easy, and pinpoint access to particular sections of a

case, or to specific filings in the court’s record. The attorney can thereby highlight the

precise issue presented, and the specific evidence and controlling or persuasive law the

court should consider.

Hyperlinks in court filings are very beneficial for court chambers. Court

submissions which include links to relevant case law and case filings are easy for

chambers staff to review. The attorneys’ arguments can be immediately verified in the

context of the relevant law. The judge or judicial clerk is able to read the text of the

cited case law on one screen while reading the attorney’s brief on the other. And if a

brief contains links to referenced exhibits, and even to specific pages within those

exhibits, the judge or judicial clerk can access the relevant evidence without having to

navigate through the CM/ECF record. Particularly when dealing with large and complex

cases, links save chambers considerable time and effort. Links make it easy for the

court to verify – and adopt – the positions taken by an advocate.



Types of Permissible Hyperlinks Subject to the court’s local rules, the following types of hyperlinks are typically

allowed in court documents.

Internal Links For example, the Table of Contents located at the

beginning of this Guide.

Links to documents

previously filed on CM/ECF

Links to attachments and

exhibits being filed with your

brief

Links to case and statute

citations For example:

Westlaw,

Lexis,

or court websites.



Creating a Hyperlinked Table of Contents

A table of contents in a W ordPerfect document can include internal hyperlinks for

navigating the document. The following steps are used to create a Table of Contents in

a W ordPerfect document.

Step 1: Mark all of the items that belong in the list.

Step 2: Insert a page break before the list and add a title or page header.

Step 3: Define the format and position for the list.

Step 4: Generate the list and cross-references.

Step 5: Edit the generated list.

Marking Table of Contents Entries

Follow the steps below to mark entries for a table of contents (TOC).

STEP

ACTION

1 On the Tools menu, point to Reference and then Table of

Contents. Note: The Table of Contents Feature Bar appears.

2 Select the block of text to include in the table of contents.

Note: This is best done using Reveal Codes, being careful with any

formatting codes.

3 Click the Mark button on the Feature Bar to choose the indentation

level you want for the selected text. There are 5 Mark buttons

which correspond to five levels of indentation. The leftmost

position in the table of contents is level 1.

Note: W ordPerfect will mark the selected text with [Mrk Txt ToC]

codes which you can see in Reveal Codes.

Defining a Table of Contents

Follow the steps below to define the position and format for a table of contents.



STEP

ACTION

1 Turn on the Table of Contents Feature Bar (Tools➔Reference➔Table

of Contents)

2 Move the cursor to the point where the table of contents should appear.

Note: To start the table on a new page, press Ctrl+Enter. Press ↑to

move the cursor before the [HPg] code. Enter a title if you'd like one,

such as Table of Contents, and press Enter.

3

Click the Define button on the Feature Bar to open the Define Table of

Contents dialog box.

4

Use the following options to customize your table.

Number of Levels Allows you to choose how many levels to

display in the table of contents, from 1 to 5.

Position Allows you to choose where to place page

numbers in each level.

Styles Allows you to customize the appearance of

the text in each level.

Page Numbering Lets you customize the page numbering

format.

5

Click OK to return to the document window. The message <<Table of

Contents will generate here>> will appear at the cursor position.

6

To ensure proper page numbering, move the cursor to the top of the

first numbered page (the first page that follows the table of contents).

From the Format menu, click Page, then Numbering and click the Set

Value button.

7

Click the Page tab, change Set Page Number to 1, and click OK.

Generating Lists

Once you've marked your lists, generating them is easy. Follow the steps in the

table below to generate the table of contents.



STEP ACTION

1 Click the Generate button on the Feature Bar. Or from the Tools

menu click Reference, then Generate.

2 If you want, select or clear the following options:

Save Subdocuments: W ordPerfect saves changes to

subdocuments of the master document being generated.

Build Hyperlinks: W ordPerfect generate and saves hyperlinks in

your document.

3 Click OK.

Warning: W ordPerfect does not update the lists automatically when

you change the document. Be sure to regenerate the list after

making changes.

Editing Lists

If you decide to edit a generated list, pay special attention to the codes that

define the list and its contents. You'll typically see codes like these after you

generate a list.

[Def Mark][Gen Txt].....list goes here....[Gen Txt]

Each list begins at the [Def Mark] code that W ordPerfect inserts when you define

the list. The generated list appears between the [Gen Txt] codes. Each time you

generate a list, W ordPerfect will replace all of the text between the sequence of

codes. You should, therefore, keep the following in mind.

• Always place list titles and page headers before the [Def Mark] code, not

after it, or between the [Gen Txt] codes. (Otherwise they will disappear

when you regenerate the list)

• If you edit the generated list only, your changes will be lost when you

regenerate the list. Therefore it is best to edit the references within the

main document and then regenerate the list.

When the entire document is complete, using MS W ord, Save the document as a

PDF or Create PDF in accordance with the instructions in this Guide.

Note: Do not Print to PDF. All active links in your Word document become

inactive in PDFs created using Print to PDF.



Drafting Documents to Include Links to CM/ECF

If you intend to include CM/ECF links in a document you are creating, use a

consistent citation format that cites the CM/ECF filing number along with the CM/ECF

page number. For example:

1 Download the filings from CM/ECF, and save them in your computer.

Reminder: you can download a document from CM/ECF one time for free

when you receive the notice of electronic filing. Charges apply to each

additional download of the same document.

2 Documents downloaded from CM/ECF will include a header that identifies the

CM/ECF filing number and the page numbers within that filing.

3 When drafting your brief, cite to the CM/ECF filing number and CM/ECF page

number to which you are citing. For example:

Assume you are citing to the following page of evidence.

The citation within the brief could appear as follows:

The Plan included a Trust Agreement. (Filing No. 13-1, at CM/ECF p. 3).

Gathering Links for Citations to the Record

Now that the filing numbers and associated page numbers are in the brief, you

can manually add links to the electronic record.

To obtain the url for the document without incurring a PACER charge:

1 Collect and save on your computer the notice of electronic filing (NEF) for all

filings in the case.

2 When you later need the link for the

document cited,

--retrieve the NEF for that document,

--right-click on the Document Number, and

from the drop-down menu that appears,

Select Copy Shortcut.



To obtain the url for the document from the PACER docket sheet (PACER

charge applies):

STEP ACTION

1 Open the CM/ECF docket sheet and scroll to the cited docket filing.

2 If linking to the main CM/ECF filing,

right-click on the docket filing number,

and Copy shortcut.

If linking to a sub-file within a CM/ECF filing number:

Either:

Click on the docket filing number;

A window will open which lists all sub-

filings for that docket filing number.

Place your cursor over the link for the

document you are citing,

right-click, and from the drop-down

menu that appears, and

select Copy Shortcut.

Or

Right-click on the sub-

filing number in the

docket text and,

select Copy Shortcut.



Formatting the appearance of the links inserted

Before inserting links into a document, you may choose how those links will

appear in the final document. For example, do you want them to appear:

blue and underlined,

bold and black,

black and italicized, or

some other appearance?

To select the appearance of the links in your document:

STEP ACTION

1 Open a W ordPerfect document which

includes hyperlinked text.

From Format on the menu bar,

Select Styles.

2 In the Styles box,

scroll to and select Hypertext.

Click Edit.

3

The Styles Editor box

will open.

Double-click on a

Reveal Codes command in the

Contents box; e.g. on

or .

4

The Font Properties

box will open. Select the desired Color.

Select the desired Appearance.

Click OK.



STEP ACTION

5 You will return to the Styles

Editor box.

Click OK.

6 You will return to the Styles

box.

If you want to set your

changes as the hyperlink

text format for every

document,

Click on Options, and from

the drop-down that appears,

Select Settings.

7 In the Style Settings box,

Select Default Template.

Click OK.

8 You will return to the Styles box.

Click Close.



Linking to CM/ECF Documents

Inserting Links to Documents Previously Filed on CM/ECF

To manually add the links you have copied from the docket to the MS W ord

document you are drafting:

STEP ACTION

1 In the brief, use your cursor to select the citation you want to link.

2 From Tools on the menu bar,

select Hyperlink.

3 A Hyperlinks Properties dialog box will appear.

Use the Delete key

from the computer

keyboard to remove

4 Right-click in the

Document/Macro box.

Select Paste.



STEP ACTION

5

The link to the first page of

the filing will appear.

To link to the filing only, or

to only page 1 of the filing, click OK.

The link to the citation will

be added in your brief.

6

To link to the specific page number of a CM/ECF filing to which you are citing,

In the address box, scroll to or place your cursor at the end of the link address.

Add the following text: ?page=<page number> . For example,

To link to page number 3 of a filing, add ?page=3. Click OK and the link to the page will be added to the citation in the brief.

Note: W hile the document remains in W ordPerfect format, the link will

go only to the first page of the document. But upon conversion to

PDF, the PDF link will go to the specific page you cited.

7

Convert the brief to a PDF following the instructions below.

8

File the PDF version of the document in CM/ECF.

Note: It is not necessary to re-file or re-attach the documents to which you are linking to if they have been previously filed in CM/ECF.

Adding Links to Attachments to the Document Being Filed

If a document cited in your brief has not previously been filed on CM/ECF, you

may link to the document within your brief only if the document is filed as an

attachment to your brief. Follow the steps below to add active hyperlinks to

documents you will be filing as brief attachments in CM/ECF.


Revised on January 31, 2014 Page 13 of 30

STEP

ACTION

1

Save all the documents you will cite to into a single folder in your

computer. The documents must be in PDF format.

2

While drafting your brief, include the citations to the documents saved

in your computer.

3

In W ordPerfect, select the text to which a link will be added.

4

From the Tools menu, select Hyperlink.

5

A Hyperlinks Properties dialog box will appear.

Click the folder button.

Browse to and select the saved file you want to link.

Click on the file. The name of the file will appear in the File name box. Click Select.

(Note: The file selected as the link must be in PDF format.)



STEP ACTION

6 The path to the file will appear in the Document/Macro field.

7 A link to the file will be added to the text. If you hover over the link with

your cursor, you will see the link address.

Add links accordingly to all the citations in your brief.

Note: Specific page links can be added by following the directions in

the previous section. Use the PDF page number, not a Bates number

or footer page number, for the citation.



STEP ACTION

8 File the brief and evidence as follows:

a

Following the normal procedure for filing briefs on

CM/ECF, browse to and select your brief with links as

the main document.

b

Browse to and select as an Attachment each PDF file

to which a link was created in your brief.

c

Using the drop-down list, select the type of document

attached, and provide a written description of the

document. (Note: From the court’s perspective, the

written description you provide in CM/ECF can

become, automatically, the name of a PDF bookmark in

the downloaded file).

Repeat the foregoing steps until all cited evidence is

filed as an attachment to your brief.

d

When all evidence attachments have been added to

the brief, click Next and complete the remaining steps

for filing the brief on CM/ECF. Once filed, the links in

the brief will link directly to the evidence filed of record

with the brief.



Automated Links to Legal Citations

Links to legal citations can be added manually or, assuming the software is

compatible with your computer and word processing software, by using automated

linking software available through W estlaw or Lexis.

Access to Linking Software

Tool Cost URL

W estlaw InsertLinks Must purchase a W est

BriefTools subscription.

Estimated cost: $100/month

for small firms;

$300 to 500/month for larger

firms (10 licenses)

http://legalsolutions.thomsonre uters.com/law- products/solutions/brieftools?searchterms=brief+tool

Shepard’s Links

2008

Lexis is currently not selling a

software subscription which will

insert links to documents that

will remain active upon

conversion to PDF. The last

version of such software was

created in 2008 and can be

downloaded from the

Lexis/Nexis website for free.

http://support.lexisnexis.com/ln download/record.asp?ArticleID =6056

Note: The Shepard’s BriefSuite dictionary is getting old and may not recognize some of the newer reporters.

Its accuracy as a linking tool is inconsistent.

Lexis for Microsoft

Office

This Lexis software product will

add links for research and

drafting purposes, but those

links are lost upon conversion

to PDF. Lexis is investigating

the issue.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/en- us/products/lexis-for-microsoft- office.page

http://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/law-products/solutions/brief-tools?searchterms=brief%2Btool







http://support.lexisnexis.com/lndownload/record.asp?ArticleID=6056




http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/lexis-for-microsoft-office.page







Linking Software—Compatibility Information

The following graph outlines the compatibility of Shepard’s Links 2008, W est

InsertLinks, and Lexis Links for Microsoft Office for inserting links into MS W ord

and W ordPerfect documents with a W indows XP (SP3) 2GB Memory, W indows

Vista (SP2) 4GB Memory, or W indows 7 – 4GB Memory computer.*

Shepard’s Links

2008

Lexis for

Microsoft Office

West

InsertLinks

MS Word 2010 X** X***

MS Word 2007 X** X***

MS Word 2003 X X***

MS Word 2000 X

WordPerfect X6****

WordPerfect X4 – X5 X

WordPerfect X3 X X

WordPerfect 10 – 12 X

* The W est and Lexis linking software programs cannot be used on Apple computers.

Moreover, although Shepard’s Links was not designed to operate on W indows Vista

and W indows 7 (as reflected in the Lexis literature), it is working on these computer

systems. ** Lexis for Microsoft Office is being developed and tested. However, in its current

stage of development, any links added by Lexis for Microsoft Office are being stripped

out upon conversion to PDF. Lexis is investigating this issue. *** W estlaw product information states InsertLinks is compatible with both 32- and 64-bit

Microsoft W ord. However, while it works well with 32-bit W ord, InsertLinks is not fully

compatible or useful with 64-bit W ord. **** W est currently has no linking software compatible with W ordPerfect X6. W est

indicates it may develop and release this product during the summer of 2013.



Westlaw InsertLinks

InsertLinks is a W estlaw computer software program which scans Microsoft W ord

or Corel W ordPerfect1

documents to locate legal citations, and then automatically

inserts hyperlinks to the W estlaw internet address (url) for those citations into the

word processing document.

See attached InsertLink example-W ord

InsertLink example-W ordPerfect

Installing West InsertLinks

InsertLinks is part of the W est BriefTools suite, and a BriefTools

subscription is required in order to use this software.

• The current W est BriefTools product is Version 2.7.2039, which

was updated on December 10, 2012.

• The attached BriefTools Software Download instructions

outlines the system requirements and provides instructions on how

to install W est BriefTools.

Using West InsertLinks

Once InsertLinks software is installed, W estlaw links can be installed

automatically in W ordPerfect documents using the following steps:

STEP ACTION

1 With the W ordPerfect document to which you are adding links

open on your screen:

Select Insert Links from the menu bar.

1 Currently, InsertLinks is not compatible with, and cannot be used for, automatically inserting links into

WordPerfect X6 documents. It does, however, work with prior versions of WordPerfect.



STEP ACTION

2 The InsertLinks software will begin searching the document

for citations and inserting the appropriate links.

3 The Inserting Links box depicted above will disappear when

the process is complete and all links are installed.

Shepard’s Links 2008

Shepard’s Links is a Lexis computer software program which scans Microsoft

W ord or Corel W ordPerfect2

documents to locate legal citations, and then

automatically inserts hyperlinks to the Lexis internet address (url) for those

citations into the word processing document.

Reminder: Although free, Shepard’s links has not been updated since 2008 and

provides inconsistent auto-linking results.

Installing Shepard’s Links

Shepards Links is part of the Shepard’s BriefSuite.

• Shepard’s BriefSuite has not been updated since 2008.

• The attached BriefSuite software download instructions

provides a step-by-step description on how to install Shepard’s

BriefSuite.

2 See compatibility graph above.



Using Shepard’s Links

Once Shepard’s Links software is installed, Lexis links can be installed

automatically in W ordPerfect documents using the following steps:

STEP ACTION

1

Click on the Shepard’s Link button, circled in the screenshot

below

2

Click the checkbox (optional) and click OK.

3

Click Cancel. Logging in is optional.

4

Click OK.

5

The new document with the hyperlinks opens in a new tab.

Save the document as a PDF as described in these

instructions.



Manually Inserting Hyperlinks

As previously described, hyperlinks to documents filed on CM/ECF can be

manually added to a document. It is also possible to manually create links to

documents available through commercial legal websites (e.g., Lexis or W estlaw), and

those posted on the court’s website (Local Rules).

Manually adding links can be labor intensive if the document is long, but the

process is not difficult. And even if you are primarily using software to add links to a

document, understanding the underlying mechanics of hyperlinking within W ordPerfect

and W ord documents is helpful and may be necessary if, for example, you need to

make corrections to the automatically created links.

Manually Creating Links to Online Research Resources

The process for manually adding links to W estlaw, Lexis, Google Scholar, or any

other online research resource (LoisLaw, FastCase, etc.,) is the same.

STEP ACTION

1 In the brief, use your cursor to select the citation from which you want

to link.

2 Sign into the legal research website and open the cited document.

Select the url address for the document.

Right-click, and Copy the address. See e.g.,

OR

Note: Check your local rules for any authority or limitations on the

legal research websites to which links are permitted.

Note: Some attorneys have reported difficulty using this method to

insert links to Lexis research. An alternative option is described in

Appendix A.



STEP ACTION

a

From Tools on the menu bar,

select Hyperlink.

b

A Hyperlinks

Properties dialog box

will appear.

Use the Delete key from

the computer keyboard

to remove

c

Right-click in the

Document/Macro box.

Select Paste.

d

Click OK.

e

The link to the citation will be added in your brief.

3



Manual Links to Court Websites

You may wish to cite to published opinions on a court’s website, or to the court’s

local rules. To do so:

STEP ACTION

1 In your brief, select the text to be linked.

2 Locate and copy the url address for the citation. See e.g.,

OR

3 Referring to the previous section, “Manually Creating Links to

Online Research Resources,” complete Step 3.



Create Bookmarks in a PDF A bookmark is a type of link within Acrobat PDF documents. Each bookmark

goes to a different view or page in the document. They can mark places in a

document for easy access later. Follow the steps in the table below to add

bookmarks to your PDF files.

Step

Screen

1. Click the Bookmark tab on the left

side of the window to open the

bookmarks panel.

2. Navigate to the page where you want

the bookmark.

In the Bookmarks pane, click the New

Bookmark icon.



3. A new bookmark will appear as

Type a name for the bookmark.

Note: If you highlight text on the page

before clicking the New Bookmark

button, the selected text will

automatically become the name of the

bookmark.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 until all bookmarks

are placed.

To ensure that the bookmarks are

displayed when the document is

opened, we need to set the view

property.

5. From the File menu, choose

Properties.

6. Click on the Initial View tab.

7. From the Navigation tab list, choose

Bookmarks Panel and Page or

Attachments Panel and Page depending

on your situation.



Final Editing

Removing Links

To remove a specific hyperlink in a W ordPerfect document:

Press Alt + 3 to open Reveal Codes.

Place your cursor in front of the

Hyperlink coding for the link to be removed.

Press the Delete key.

To remove all hyperlinks in a W ordPerfect document:

Press Alt + 3 to open Reveal Codes.

Place your cursor at the beginning of the text in the Reveal Codes box.

Type Ctrl + F.

A Find and Replace dialogue box will

open.

Select Match, then Codes.

A Codes box will appear.

In Find codes, scroll and select

Hyperlink Begin.

Click Insert.



[HyperLink Begin] will appear in the

Find: box.

Replace with <Nothing> and select

Replace All.

A display will open stating how many

hyperlinks were replaced with

“nothing.”

Click OK.

Editing Linked Text

To make additions to or change hyperlinked text in a W ordPerfect document:

1. Place your cursor at the end of the linked text.

2. Use the back arrow on your keyboard to move your cursor into the

linked text to the position where the text must me added or

changed, and

3. Type in your changes.



Publish to PDF—Retaining the Hyperlinks

All documents filed in CM/ECF are PDFs, so all documents created for filing must

be converted to a PDF document. To include hyperlinks in your filed documents, place

all the links into the document using your word processing system before converting the

document to a PDF format.

Once all links are in the document, use your word processing software to save or

convert your briefs, or other documents you have created for filing, in a PDF format.

Note: Do NOT use Print to PDF to create a PDF of a brief with hyperlinks–the

hyperlinks will be lost. Do NOT print the document and scan it to PDF format. Conversion to PDF

To save (“publish”) a W ordPerfect document in PDF format:

STEP ACTION

1 Select File –>

Publish To –>

Publish to PDF.

Or

Type Alt + P.

2 The Publish to PDF dialog box will

open.

Browse to the file location for

saving the file.

Name the file.

Click Save.

A PDF will be created with active

links.

3 After the document is published to PDF, you may filed it on CM/ECF

using typical filing processes. W ith the exception of filing a document

with links to its own attachment (discussed previously), no special

steps are needed for filing a hyperlinked document on CM/ECF.



Additional Tips

Viewing a website location opened from a link in a CM/ECF filing:

When opening a PDF document filed on CM/ECF, make sure you are opening

PDFs in your PDF software and not within the W eb browser itself. Opening the

CM/ECF documents in the web browser will result in unnecessary toggling

between the document opened on CM/ECF and any website locations opened

from links within that CM/ECF document, and will make it difficult or impossible to

display the CM/ECF document on one screen and the website location on

another.

For those who use Adobe Acrobat, this setting adjustment is made as follows:

With an Adobe Acrobat

document open,

Click Edit,

then Preferences.

From the Categories,

scroll and select Internet.

Make sure Display PDF in browser is not selected.

Click OK.

After you change this setting, you will need to close and reopen your W eb

browser before opening CM/ECF filings.



This manual was based on the instructional guide produced by

Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart of the District Court of Nebraska.

Please share your comments, questions, corrections, and

experiences with hyperlinking or using this Guide by contacting:

IT Department

US District Court for the Central District of California

(213) 894-6133